Is the story of Michael Jackson’s harassment the story of HUMAN NATURE?

This is the story of a man who was misunderstood in a way that no one will ever imagine. He was humiliated, beaten, ridiculed and questioned by the public.

Michael Jackson’s name was known for the world as their beloved one until a degraded hateful man motivated by jealousy and anger towards the man he accused him for breaking up his family and claimed he molested his 12 year old son.
However, those allegations changed Jackson’s world and the media started to reveal its own agenda but the viewers never questions their motives and believed their lies with others fairy tales.

Few understand just how biased the media was in their reporting of the trial, and just how calculated and sensationalist they were throughout it. That negativity sells is something everyone already knows, but in the 2005 child molestation charges against the the world’s most famous person, there seemed to be something that ran far deeper. There was a malice and a blood thirst there that seemed out of the ordinary even by tabloid measurements. And it brings up the very interesting question of what it is that can make thousands of peoplegang up so completely on one individual. What primal instinct, what fear can cause us, as a race, to turn into a pitch-fork mob, salivating and roaming at the thought of lynching someone and literally destroying them?

The question in all of this is not how people became so caught up in preferring fiction over truth, the question is why.

Why was it that someone had apparently decided that Michael Jackson did not deserve to be treated like a human being? What was it that made people so provoked by him, and when was it decided that he did not deserve privacy, respect, or compassion?

Was it when his face started changing? When he became too feminine for people to apply the set-in-stone rules of gender roles to him that we worship and follow so religiously? Was it when he became the biggest selling artist in history, or when he gained wealth and financial freedom, while the rest of us went to our day jobs that we hated? Was it when he shunned the public eye because of the chaos that would rear its ugly head whenever he stepped foot outside? Was it his creativity, and his passionate and intense outbursts on stage? Or, was it simply, that he mirrored our own mistakes back to us?

Michael Jackson was an avid spokesperson for children’s rights. His charity work spanned the globe, and he donated millions on a yearly basis. He spoke frequently about love and respect as the healers of our broken planet and most of all, he believed in it. He pointed out the suffering and the wrongdoings on the planet, wrongdoings that largely exist because of our own indifference to them. Having someone mirroring our mistakes and idleness back to us is frightening , and by looking at his generosity and childlike nature, we were reminded that we had lost our own.

This was something that was incredibly provoking to many, and when provoked and insecure, we are designed to reject. By rejecting the thing that makes us uncomfortable, we hope for the feelings it creates to go away. So Michael Jackson was rejected. Again and again, he was rejected and mocked and crucified by people that were too insecure in their own skin to be able to accept anyone that stood out, and that didn’t fit the mold.

Michael Jackson danced with an injured back, he toured until he fainted, and he stayed up entire nights at a time, for one reason, and one reason only: the hope that we would finally love and accept him the way he so desperately yearned for. But we would not, and we kept pushing him away.

Jackson often spoke of how he felt he could not take credit for his songs, as they “would just come to him”, and all he did was write them down. He cited God, and felt that the music was simply being channeled through him by a higher power. To anyone that has ever watched him on stage, his presence is undeniable. In many ways, he may well be considered a creative and musical genius. Those are few and far between, but instead of being fascinated or in awe…we were provoked. We didn’t understand it, didn’t understand his animated way of behaving or his childlike nature, we didn’t understand his visions or his appreciation for the simple things…so we rejected him. Fear is born out of ignorance, and the world was ignorant. And because he already seemed so different from most of us — again geniuses are few and far between — it made sense to most people that he was very likely “strange” in the ways that the tabloids reported, too. He was a thirty-something man that loved water balloon fights; a forty-something that enjoyed climbing trees and as they claim, try to bleach his skin.

As a society, we worship our social norms so much, that anything that strays for them by definition becomes wrong and undesirable. Michael Jackson did not fit into any of the molds set by society. He was born with dark skin, which whitened with time. He was born with a large, wide nose, that he had changed it to a small and narrow one. He had long hair, a high-pitched voice, and a soft, compassionate side. He was the antithesis of what society defines as “male”, and expects a man to be.

We raise our sons with toy guns, scrubbed knees and the notion that boys don’t cry. Michael Jackson was not afraid to show his emotions in every aspect of his life, and he was not an image of the macho culture that we so seem to love. His shyness and softer side was cute when he was little, and possibly also in his early teens, but in a fifty year old man? No, that can’t possibly be right. TV told us that’s not how men are supposed to behave. Reject.

Although the child molestation trial became the final blow to Michael Jackson’s heart, there had been a steady stream of atrocities being written about his private persona for decades, one more vicious than the next. During the twenty years that Michael Jackson was persecuted by the media, no one ever stopped to question the likelihood of what they were reading. Somewhere along the way, we put logics and critical thinking aside and decided that if it’s in print, it must be true. It must be true, because why would anyone lie? What people should be asking themselves is, why would they not?

The media is a profit business. It is naive to think that we live in a world devoid of corruption and greed, and the days where the media was a direct reflection of the truth are long gone. What we are left with, are innuendos and cleverly fabricated stories that speak to the morbid fascination and pack animal in all of us, and that are just basic enough to not require reflection

In retrospect, a vast majority of what was written on Jackson seems laughable and bizarre.

According to the press, this is someone that was born a black man but really wants to be a white woman, sleeps in a hyperbarbaric chamber to be able to reach the age of two hundred, rides the roller coaster in his backyard alone in the middle of the night, bought the remains of Joseph Merrick (also known as “The Elephant man”), and takes female hormones to maintain his high-pitched voice. Yet no one ever reacted. No one ever for a second thought “hang on a minute, this can’t possibly be true.” The reason? They wanted it to be true. They needed it to be true, so they could feel collectively part of something. Asking your colleagues or friends if they’ve heard what that Michael Jackson has done now, makes you the center of attention, and it makes you feel part of a group. We are pack animals, we thrive off of others and do not well on our own. We want to belong, to be accepted, to feel appreciated. That was all Michael Jackson ever wanted, too. The only difference is he was never let into the pack.

So why, then, did an entire planet decide it was okay to throw another fellow human being to the wolves and enjoy watching his demise? As a human race, we are not all good. We can be vindictive, manipulative, greedy and selfish, and all of us WILL put ourselves first if we are put into a life or death situation. We’d just like to believe differently.

And Michael Jackson believed differently. It is funny how the one man that for so many years experienced nothing but the absolute worst of other people, was also the one that, unlike the rest of us, never became jaded.

For someone to be subjected to so much hatred, prejudice, greed and malice, and still not lose faith in humanity is astonishing. It would have been so easy for him, as it is for all of us, when hurt, to withdraw from the world and grow bitter and cold. The fact that he not only refrained from that, but kept loving this world and everyone in it even more, says everything about the person that he was. And lying about him, judging, hounding and persecuting him and standing by, doing nothing, as he perished….says everything about us.

May I say that it’s human nature, as I said , and it’s sometimes ugly. We’re constructed to think that what is different might be dangerous. We’re better at describing people’s bad sides than their good sides. It’s an explanation, but it’s not an excuse. Luckily, there are other sides to human nature as well. Like reflection, and intelligence, and forgiveness, and love.

I don’t think it’s possible to fully grasp just how much things were twisted in the press for the three months it took for the trial to finish, or to fully understand what a circus it really was. It was madness, bordering on absurd.

What is also very interesting, and something most people do not know, is the extreme measurements that District Attorney Tom Sneddon went to to not only get a case going, but make sure that it spiralled out of control. Not only did he have two grand jurys involved, he set up a separate section at the Santa Barbara Police Department web site specifically and actively looking for people that had been molested by Michael Jackson. He flew overseas on a whim, because there was a story floating around about an Australian boy that had allegedly been fondled by Jackson. The story turned out to be fictional, but this carried on for years and years.

I am appalled by the way the media collectively, especially the US and the UK, simply ignored the facts and brainwashed the public with their obviously biased and unethical reporting on the Michael Jackson trial. The whole thing is sickening and the pure evil side of humanity just astonishes me. Is really human nature to be this malicious to someone who only wanted to bring joy to the world through his music and dance and his life long charitable work?

Out of jealousy, out of envy and out of hatred? I really believe there are dark forces that want to silence those who speak of love, harmony, peace, and the world unity, which was pretty much the main theme of Michae Jackson’s whole being.

I still can’t come to terms of MJ’s untimely passing… The world seems much darker without his presence in it.

He was a beautiful, talented artist, dancer, performer, poet, writer, lover of children and animals, and an amazing father to his three kids.

The world who believed anything bad about this man should research the true life of Michael Jackson and not believe the tabloids that took away his soul and sent him to heaven way too soon.

Dialdancer, I am with you 1000%. I ask myself WHY?!? at times too. This article, especially this part:

“The fact that he not only refrained from that, but kept loving this world and everyone in it even more, says everything about the person that he was. And lying about him, judging, hounding and persecuting him and standing by, doing nothing, as he perished….says everything about us.”

almost had me vomiting I was crying so hard. It just upset me so much because it is so true, I had step away from my computer I was so emotional. I can’t imagine walking in his shoes, treated the way he was. I do not know how people like Randy Phillips, Martin Bashir, and ESPECIALLY Sneddon sleep at night just to name a few. Karma has to find Sneddon. It HAS too.

Dial, I wish articles like these were in the public and basically FORCED on us for years. We needed these things to counteract the bad. No one dared to have common sense when it came to Michael. He was a “Freak” because he didn’t look or act like us, because there was little known about his private life, because we gave up on remembering the child within, because we all wanted what he had and would never get it.

The furious hate that he endured was the collective storm of years of brainwashing to destroy a man because he was high enough to tear down. As a society we like to raise our entertainers (especially extraordinary ones already) to God like status then massacre their lives in every way possible. It soon becomes to much to worship something we can never emulate and thus it must be demolished and with GREAT FURY!

Teva, I wholeheartedly agree with you too. Reaching his level of super-stardom had never been done–and will never be done again. The 80’s was simultaneously his rise and fall because there was no going back. He had stunned the world as the worlds greatest solo performer and would forever be a bulls-eye. His name or connection meant $$$ and that is the bottom line, people will always do anything for money. ANYTHING.

I keep asking myself WHY?? it is not enough to say people where envious, racially prejudice or greedy although many still are about anything with his name on it, there has to be something else that would have a nation fall in with the party line that it is acceptable to violate this Man’s, name, imagine, civil rights and allow others to openly steal from him without punishment or apology.

Sara I don’t think I commented on how much I liked this piece yet! Today I came back and read it again because your words give me comfort, it makes me realize I’m not alone.

Today there have been several reports of more Cirque shows being added to the “Michael Jackson Immortal World tour”. A positive thing for Michael’s legacy which also means that haters both in the public and the media have been out full force today.

Even in death Michael continues to be harassed and I believe it’s for many of the reasons that you mentioned in your piece.

“I still can’t come to terms of MJ’s untimely passing…The world seems much darker without his presence in it.”

Sara, yes, the feeling of us losing someone really good and someone really meaningful to the whole world is still very strong and this is the main driving force for all of us here. But look what miracles Michael is making for us now. I never expected that so many different people from different parts of the world would come as one over any human being in the world history – but this is what is indeed happening now and it is happening due to Michael!

May I say that it’s human nature, as I said , and it’s sometimes ugly. We’re constructed to think that what is different might be dangerous. We’re better at describing people’s bad sides than their good sides. It’s an explanation, but it’s not an excuse. Luckily, there are other sides to human nature as well. Like reflection, and intelligence, and forgiveness, and love.
I don’t think it’s possible to fully grasp just how much things were twisted in the press for the three months it took for the trial to finish, or to fully understand what a circus it really was. It was madness, bordering on absurd.

What is also very interesting, and something most people do not know, is the extreme measurements that District Attorney Tom Sneddon went to to not only get a case going, but make sure that it spiralled out of control. Not only did he have two grand jurys involved, he set up a separate section at the Santa Barbara Police Department web site specifically and actively looking for people that had been molested by Michael Jackson. He flew overseas on a whim, because there was a story floating aorund about an Australian boy that had allegedly been fondled by Jackson. The story turned out to be fictional, but this carried on for years and years.

I am appalled by the way the media collectively especially the US and the UK, simply ignored the facts and brainwashed the public with their obviously biased and unethical reporting on the Michael Jackson trial. The whole thing is sickening and the pure evil side of humanity just astonishes me. Is really human nature to be this malicious to someone who only wanted to bring joy to the world through his music and dance and his life long charitable work? Out of jealousy, out of envy and out of hatred? I really believe there are dark forces that want to silence those who speak of love, harmony, peace, and the world unity, which was pretty much the main theme of Michae Jackson’s whole being. I still can’t come to terms of MJ’s untimely passing…The world seems much darker without his presence in it.
He was a beautiful, talented artist, dancer, performer, poet, writer, lover of children and animals, and an amazing father to his three kids.
The world who believed anything bad about this man should research the true life of Michael Jackson and not believe the tabloids that took away his soul and sent him to heaven way too soon.

“What was it that made people so provoked by him, and when was it decided that he did not deserve privacy, respect, or compassion?” – Sara101mj

In one word: Greed, may it be the lust for money or fame. In the eighties Michael had the Midas touch, and the ability to spin straw into gold, everything he did was extraordinary, magical & multiplied. John Landis said travelling with Michael back then was like being with Jesus. It was the law of supply and demand, the public was captivated, and the media rushed in to satisfy that need. Editors quickly realized that whenever they printed a story about Michael Jackson newspapers/tabloid sales increase exponentially, and because he rarely gave interviews to continue to make money they began to make up stories. This continued to the point that it became standard operating procedure. Michael went from famous to infamous.

What a beautiful, heart-breaking article! It sums up the failings of all us humans…we did not appreciate the beautiful soul of Michael and now the world will suffer for it…God bless Michael and his children, and God help us…

Guys, I highly recommend this post by our new contributor Sara William.

It seems that we are understimating the role of each and every of us in the story of Michael Jackson’s harassment. Media did play the crucial part – no one doubts that – but we didn’t show ourselves at our best either.

By “us” I mean the world in general and not the group of Michael’s staunch supporters who never left Michael’s side even during his blackest hour and helped him to survive. No, I mean the rest of us…